What's the Difference?
by Whisper6636
Summary: Of course there's their character items, but other than that, is there any real difference between Honne Dell and Yowane Hakuo?


**A/N: So this happened. No idea how or when; it just sort of came to be. Apologies for terribleness.**

**Rating based on, like, two words. Nothing actually happens.**

* * *

><p>"Yo. Hakuo."<p>

The silver-haired boy didn't respond.

"Haaakuuuooo."

Still nothing.

"I'm banging your sister."

He _still_ made no response. _Must know I'm lying._

It would seem only one thing would get the crimson-eyed boy's attention. He stood up, stretching, and headed toward the kitchen. "I'm gonna get something to drink."

The other still sat, listening warily. He was aware that the other only wanted to get his attention, likely to request something, but he felt like messing with him and so refused to comply. But there was one thing that was taking it too far, and that was—

The sake bottle opened with a loud pop.

_NO FU—_

The sound of liquid being poured into a glass. The glass slowly filling. The drink sloshing around as it was lifted toward someone's lips.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" he shouted as, faster than should've been humanly possible, he dashed into the room and grabbed the other boy's arm, stopping him from even tasting the sake.

The other merely smirked at the angry boy. "Long as you're up, wouldja mind grabbing my cigs?"

Tearing the glass from the boy's hand and downing it himself, he glared at the would-be sake thief. "Smoking's a bad habit to get into, especially at seventeen."

"So's drinking," he replied flippantly, shrugging. "But you had a drink. So I get a smoke."

His glare did not lighten. "How can you be so relaxed about destroying your lungs?"

"You seem pretty okay with destroying your liver."

"I'm not destroying my—"

"Dude, you just downed, like, a pint. In one go. You think that's healthy?"

"No less so than smoking, what, two packs a day? How is that any better?"

"It's not," he replied, nonchalant. "Never said it was."

"Dell."

"Whaaat?"

"I hate you and your black, smoke-stained guts."

"Daw, that's sweet." He patted the other boy's head. "I hate you, too. And your mushy alcohol-saturated organs."

Swatting the silver-headed boy's hand away, he raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you know big words like 'saturated'?"

"I'm just full of surprises, sweetie." He raised his hands, palms facing up, as he headed back into the other room. "I'm gonna go get a smoke now. Since you won't get one for me. After I went to all that trouble to pour you a drink, too..."

He rubbed his temples. _That idiot is going to get himself killed. And he'll probably take me with him._

"Hakuo...?" came a soft voice behind him, and he turned to see his half sister.

"Oh, hey, Haku."

"I heard you two arguing again."

"Yeah, well, you know what a nuisance he can be."

"You're not much different from him, you know."

This statement shocked him a bit. "What— How?"

"Well, I mean, you two are practically twins physically. You even wear the same clothes and style your hair the same way. And you're both really stubborn and kind of hypocritical. Not to mention that you both have unhealthy addictions. The only difference is that he smiles more."

He was fairly sure she only ever talked so much at once with him.

This did not stop him from scowling at her. "That's like you're saying he's better than me."

"I'm not; I'm just saying that's...that's his thing, you know? It's what he does. He always grins or smirks or whatever, and you always look really upset or bored or something. ...Actually, no, he looks bored a lot, too. You kind of get what I'm saying, though, yeah?"

Loathe as he was to admit it, he _did_ get it. He understood it completely, in fact. And he knew it was true.

But still.

He hated that stupid smoker.

If that meant he also hated himself, then so be it.

His sister clearly knew this, and she sighed. "He's not so bad," she said as she grabbed the still-open bottle of sake. "I think somewhere deep down you realize that." With that statement and a swig from the bottle, she left the kitchen, leaving him alone.

He thought about what she'd said. Of course he knew that fool really wasn't a bad person; he just hated him. It was like she'd said, the only difference between them was that he smiled more. That was probably what he most hated: that he could smile so easily, so often. He hated that someone so much like him in every other aspect was able to be so much happier.

...Or maybe that was thinking too deeply about it and he just hated him for the sake of hating him.

Suddenly feeling a weight over his shoulder, he turned to find himself face-to-face with that grinning fool. He promptly found a cloud of smoke blown into his face, and coughed violently, shoving off the arm that the other boy had thrown over him. "Dell, you son of a—" He hacked again, and took a few moments to clear the smoke away before starting again. "Do you _know_ how bad secondhand smoking is? It's worse than what you're doing to yourself!"

As he went into another fit of coughs, the other boy's grin softened. "Ah, come on. One puff's not gonna kill you. And you can't get addicted to secondhand smoking the way you can to firsthand, y'know?"

He glowered at the boy. A cigarette hung out of his mouth, already smoked about as far as it would go. "I don't know how you can get addicted to those things at all. Don't they burn?" As the smoker's grin widened again, he silently cursed himself for showing he was curious.

"Yeah, they do. Burn a lot, actually. All down my throat is kinda raw from 'em. That's why I cough a lot."

_Ah, screw it. I wanna know. _"Then why smoke at all?"

He let out a short laugh. "Probably the nicotine. That's the addictive factor, I think 'cause of the taste. Almost cancels out the tar and whatnot. But more 'n that, I kinda like the burn. I mean, yeah, it hurts–like, a lot–but it's kind of a...a nice hurt. I can't really describe it..."

"...It's like drinking. Right? It distracts you."

"Yeah...yeah, I guess that's it. It's distracting."

He nodded. Somehow, he was suddenly seeing the other boy differently, not as a stupid and happy smoker but as someone with the same pains as himself, able to better hide them.

"So...what exactly are you distracting yourself from?"

He chuckled. "I could ask you the same. But me...I dunno. Life, I guess. I didn't have a terrible life or anything, but...people were always kinda scared of me, y'know? I think it was my eyes. So I started acting like a punk, tried to give people a reason to be scared. In the end they just hated me. I think my parents did, too." Here he paused and looked at the other red-eyed boy, as if asking him to comment.

He sighed in response. "I get that. Me and Haku went through kinda the same thing. People always teased us and stuff, and I really regret that we could never be there for each other while it was happening. Actually, since we used to live in different houses, we really never got to see each other at all. So...I guess it was tough. Being alone with that."

"That why you started drinking? So you weren't always thinking about that?"

"Yeah. I suppose that's also why you started smoking?"

"Nah, I started because I thought it made me more of a punk. I _continued_ because it was a release."

He nodded, understanding. They were more alike than even his sister seemed to have realized. "So...how is it that you can smile so much?"

The smoker gave him a curious look. "How do you mean?"

The alcoholic shrugged, feeling his face heat up a bit. "It's something I've been wondering. I mean, you went through all that, but you always look so happy."

Ironically, this made the other boy grin. "Laugh and the world laughs with you; cry and you cry alone."

Now he was the one with a curious look.

"What I mean is, if I was all mopey and upset all the time, it'd push people away. I'm kinda sick of being alone; I figure if I smile and laugh more, I might not be so alone anymore. That make sense?"

"Yeah, but I mean...how? Isn't it hard?"

"Course it's hard, sometimes. But if I let myself be sad on my own time, it's easier to be happy around everyone else."

That...was a surprisingly smart thing to do. He was surprised; having always taken the other to be a fool, he'd never realized just how strong and sensible he truly was.

"I think I might have to take a page from your book, then."

His answer was given with a smirk as the other held out his pack of cigarettes. "You want a—"

"Yeah, no, not that page."


End file.
